Waste Cleanup Research Articles

Heavy Metal Pollution in Soil and Surface Sediments of Meycauayan River, Philippines and Their Relationship to Environmental Indicators

ABSTRACT The City of Meycauayan is an industrial powerhouse in the Philippines. It is considered as one of the most polluted cities in the developing world on the account of industrial discharges of toxic materials to the environment. This work investigated the sources of the heavy metal pollution in Meycauayan by analyzing soil and sediment samples for heavy metals like Chromium (Cr), Mercury (Hg), Nickel (Ni), and Lead (Pb) together with selected environmental indicators such as Total Nitrogen (TN), Total Organic Matter (TOM), and Total Phosphorus (TP) located along the Meycauayan River. Hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA), principal components analysis (PCA), and Pearson correlation analysis (CA) were used to identify the sources of the metals. Our results show delineated locations of severe levels of heavy metal pollution downstream of the river because of the concentration of industrial activities. Cr is due to proliferation of tanneries discharging untreated wastewaters to the river. Significant input of Pb and Hg from Pb-acid battery recycling and gold smelting industries were also found. The risk assessments also indicate severe levels of heavy metal pollution in locations where industrial activities are concentrated. Our findings indicate that the heavy metals have similar impacts to K, TN, TOM, and TP in the soil and sediments. Our study shows the serious need to address heavy metal pollution in Meycauayan aside from the ongoing cleanup of solid wastes as part of rehabilitation efforts by the local government.

Improving biomass mixture separation efficiency in multiple inclined channels of gas–solid fluidized bed: CFD-DEM simulation and orthogonal experiment

In order to improve the separation efficiency of clean biomass products and waste, a Z -shaped fluidized bed with multiple inclined channels is developed and applied in industrial production. Particle motion characteristics are studied using the computational fluid dynamics and discrete element method and verified by imaging experiments. The influences of operating parameters on the separation of mixture with different densities are investigated. A L 9 (3 4 ) orthogonal array is proposed to identify the main and secondary factors, and the optimal combination working condition is determined. Results demonstrate that the mixtures collide and separate many times in the inclined fluidization channels. The superficial velocity is the core for the separation efficiency, followed by the aspect ratio, and the conveying speed has a minimum effect. The Z -shaped fluidization system has an optimal performance when the superficial velocity is 6 m/s, the aspect ratio is 15/2.5 mm, the conveying speed is 2 m/s, and the mass flow rate is 0.156/0.033 kg/s. Compared with the average of the orthogonal table, the collection rate of clean products and impurities in the optimal combination increases by 70.4% and 10%, respectively. Moreover, particles are mainly perpendicular to the airflow with a zigzag movement pattern. The core-annulus structure and reflux of particles and gas are observed. The predictions on the biomass distribution agree well with experimental results, and the angle error is less than 14%. These findings will provide helpful guidance on biomass recovery utilization and other cleaner production. • A novel multiple inclined fluidization channel is designed for biomass separation. • Gas–solid coupling is studied by using the CFD-DEM. • A L 9 (3 4 ) orthogonal array is proposed to identify the main and secondary factors. • The collection rate of clean products in the optimal combination increases by 70.4%. • Biomass motion characteristics are verified by developed image processing technology.

Structural Optimization of Ring Type Oxygen Injector for Waste Incineration Research

Waste incineration is one of the most effective means to achieve harmless, reduction and resource recovery. As environmental problems become more and more prominent, increasingly stringent environmental standards will greatly limit the development of conventional waste incineration technology, therefore, the development of a new clean and efficient waste incineration technology will be the inevitable development trend of the waste incineration industry. Based on the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) technology, the structural optimization of the ring oxygen injector used in the oxygen-enriched incineration technology of the waste grate incinerator is investigated. The results show that the oxygen injection ring diameter is 0.7071D, the air duct length is 1.4D, and the oxygen injection ring outer hole is 0.28d and inner hole is 0.4d.

Program Tabung Sampah Bersih (TASBIH): Prospek dan Aspek Pemberdayaan Lansia Di Yayasan Pitutur Luhur Banyu Biru Kabupaten Semarang

The elderly guidance carried out by the Pitutur Luhur Foundation aims to provide guidance, empowerment and motivation to the elderly to keep empowered and useful up to their older ages. Empowering the elderly is done in various ways, one of which is by using the Clean Waste Savings (TASBIH) program to empower the elderly to care about the environment and provide waste management skills to the elderly. This research is a qualitative research with a social psychology approach. Data collection techniques used in the research are interviews, observation and documentation. Data analysis used in this study is data reduction, data presentation and conclusion drawing. The results of this study indicate that the empowerment of the elderly through the TASBIH program carried out by the Pitutur Luhur Gedong Foundation, Banyubiru District, Semarang Regency is carried out through several stages, namely: The awareness stage is carried out through learning with Thaharoh fiqh material, socialization of waste sorting and healing of the Qur'an, (2) Capacity building with religious training activities such as Tadabur Alam in the Gadjah Mungkur Mountains of Banyu Biru Regency, Semarang, making brooches from plastic waste, making doormats from used cloth, making flowers from plastic, making drink packaging bags and making flower pots from used towels and (3) the Evaluation Phase was carried out by the Tasbih Tube administrator and involved some participants. Based on the empowerment stage and the results of the empowerment of the elderly at the Pitutur Luhur Foundation, the elderly are able to be empowered in managing waste, making crafts from waste according to the abilities obtained during the capacity building stage. In addition, by empowering the elderly through the TASBIH program, the elderly regain their motivation and enthusiasm to continue empowered and productive in old age

Peningkatan Nilai Ekonomi Sampah Plastik Melalui Ecobrick di SMK Kewirausahaan Al-Wasath, Kabupaten Lombok Barat

The empowerment of society is conducted at a Vocational Boarding School, namely SMK Entrepreneur Al-Wasath. The school is located at West Lombok district. Based on the observation and interview, SMK has a lack of knowledge of plastic waste management and also out of environmental ethics; the school burns the plastic waste. This empowerment aims to explain and demonstrate an effective way to handle the plastic waste through making eco-bricks. Eco-brick is a packing clean and dry plastic waste into a clean plastic bottle. There are three main stages in this empowerment; the first stage is before empowerment that is observing and interviewing the school to identify the issue of waste. The second stage is implementing the empowerment through explaining the importance of plastic waste management and the economic value added of eco-brick, and demonstrating how to make the eco-brick. The third stage is evaluation through requesting the participants to complete the eco-brick. From these activities, the participants follow all the process clearly. The empowerment encourages the participants to implement the plastic waste management by making eco-brick in their daily life. Making an eco-brick is not only reducing the volume of plastic waste, but also getting an economic benefit.

Environmental Health Assessment of Tourism Area After the Covid-19 Pandemic

The closure of tourist attractions during the Covid-19 pandemic makes the facilities unmaintained and damaged so that it can endanger visitors. Safety and comfort are very important conditions in the tourism industry. Swimming pool is one of the tourist attractions that are found and visited by various age groups. Monitoring and assessment of the environmental health of the swimming pool area is very necessary to avoid the danger and risk of disease transmission to visitors. The study aimed to assess environmental health of the swimming pool after the Covid-19 pandemic. The assessment was conducted in Tirta Nirwana swimming pool. Environmental health assessment is carried out using a tourist attraction environmental health examination form. The assessment form consists of general environmental conditions and sanitation facilities which include clean water, public toilets, waste disposal, health promotion, and health facility. The environmental health assessment showed that the Tirta Nirwana swimming pool was declared healthy with good general condition and sanitation facility.

ANALISIS SEKTOR EKONOMI UNGGULAN DALAM MENDORONG PERTUMBUHAN EKONOMI KABUPATEN MAGELANG TAHUN 2015-2019

The development process of an area cannot run smoothly and optimally if the process does not match its potential. Magelang Regency actually has potential sectors to be developed and is able to make a good contribution to GRDP. This study aims to analyze and identify leading, competitive sectors which are then used as a driver for economic growth and regional development of Magelang Regency. The data used in this research is secondary data. While the research method uses Location Quotient (LQ) analysis and Shift-Share analysis.Based on the results of the analysis, it shows that there are several prominent economic sectors in the Magelang Regency, namely 1) the agriculture, forestry and fisheries, 2) the mining and quarrying 3) the clean water supply, waste processing and recycling, 4) the transportation and warehousing sector, 5) accommodation and food and drink provision, 6) information and communication, 7) real estate, 8) government administration, 9) education services and 10) other services. Apart from that it is a non-base sector. Meanwhile, in the calculation of the shift share analysis, there are several sectors that have experienced a shift. One of them is the agriculture, forestry and fisheries sectors. However, as a whole, all sectors in Magelang regency are related to one another and have a positive influence on the overall regional output growth.

Pendampingan Pengelolaan Sampah Organik pada Masyarakat Desa Gerbo Pasuruan

Waste disposal and management is the biggest threat to the environment and the people of Kejoren hamlet, Gerbo village. This service is carried out to start a program for handling waste problems, especially wet waste, starting from the beginning until it becomes clean waste that is utilized as much as possible. The service team uses the Participatory Action Research (PAR) method with a SWOT analysis strategy to describe the events that arise according to the circumstances in the village concerned. The results of the dedication through distributing questionnaires carried out pre-activity, and post-activity explained that the community's response and knowledge about waste management had increased.

The impacts of biomineralization and oil contamination on the compressive strength of waste plastic-filled mortar

Researchers have made headway against challenges of increasing cement infrastructure and low plastic recycling rates by using waste plastic in cementitious materials. Past studies indicate that microbially induced calcium carbonate precipitation (MICP) to coat plastic in calcium carbonate may improve the strength. The objective of this study was to increase the amount of clean and contaminated waste plastic that can be added to mortar and to assess whether MICP treatment enhances the strength. The performance of plastic-filled mortar was investigated at 5%, 10%, and 20% volume replacement for cement. Untreated, clean plastics at a 20% cement replacement produced compressive strengths acceptable for several applications. However, a coating of MICP on clean waste plastic did not improve the strengths. At 10% replacement, both MICP treatment and washing of contaminated plastics recovered compressive strengths by approximately 28%, relative to mortar containing oil-coated plastics. By incorporating greater volumes of waste plastics into mortar, the sustainability of cementitious composites has the potential of being improved by the dual mechanisms of reduced cement production and repurposing plastic waste.

An adaptive sparse general regression neural network-based force observer for teleoperation system

Restricted by factors such as small robot size and harsh operating environment, the inability to obtain the interaction force between the robot arm and the environment through force sensors has become problematic in promoting the application of teleoperation systems in minimally invasive surgery, nuclear waste cleanup, and other fields. To accurately obtain the interaction force without the force sensors, a force observer based on an adaptive sparse general regression neural network (ASGRNN) is proposed in this paper. The proposed force observer uses a machine learning-based approach to obtain estimated force, thus eliminating the need for the dynamic parameters of the robot arm. Also, an innovative feature selection method incorporating the wrapper method and sparse regularization is proposed to select the input features of the force observer. Secondly, two new criteria are defined to eliminate the useless support vectors in the model. In addition, an improved antlion optimization algorithm (IALO) is proposed to optimize the bandwidth parameters of the model. To verify the performance of the proposed force observer, a 6-degree-of-freedom teleoperation robot experimental platform is built and compared with three existing force estimation models. The results show that the proposed force observer outperforms the existing model in terms of estimation accuracy, and the mean square error (MSE) is at least 35.79% lower than the existing model. In conclusion, this paper provides a feasible and effective force observer for a teleoperation system where force sensors are not applicable and dynamic parameters are non-knowable.

Impact of socioeconomic change and hygiene sanitation during pandemic COVID-19 towards stunting

The global COVID-19 pandemic has raised the risk of malnutrition in children under five years, including stunting. Stunting is common in low-income regions, when families cannot afford nutritious meals. Stunting may become more common as a result of changes in family socioeconomic circumstances, personal cleanliness, and environmental sanitation during the pandemic. This study determined the effect of socioeconomic factors and hygiene sanitation during COVID-19 pandemic on the incidence of stunting in coastal areas. This was analytical survey research with cross sectional approach. The total sample was 3886 families who had toddlers aged 0-59 months in the coastal areas in Surabaya City, Indonesia. The study found that low family income, hand-washing habits, clean water sources, sewer access, waste management, and healthy latrine have significant impact to malnutrition, especially stunting.

ANIMO DOSEN STPBI DALAM GERAKAN SEMESTA BERENCANA BALI RESIK SAMPAH PLASTIK DI KARANGASEM, BALI

The purpose of writing this article is to publish an achievement of community service activities in Karangasem. Generally, the enthusiasm of the STPBI Lecturers is seen in tourism, hospitality, and education events. However, it turns out that there is an interest from STPBI lecturers in the Bali Resik Plastic Waste Planning Universe Movement in Karangasem. The problems are: 1) What is the structure of the Bali Planned Universe Movement for Recycling Plastic Waste in Karangasem? 2) What are the STPBI Lecturers' animo on the Bali Planned Universe Movement to Clean Up Plastic Waste in Karangasem?. The article was completed using a qualitative method. Secondary data was obtained based on a literature study, while primary data was obtained through interviews and participation observations. All data have been analyzed qualitatively. The results show that: 1) The Bali Resik Plastic Waste Planned Universe Movement in Tribuana village, was held in the form of community service activities to clean plastic waste using broom sticks and campil or non-organic garbage bags; and 2) The enthusiasm for duplicating waste disposal methods and following the Bali Resik Plastic Waste Planned Universe Movement from preparation, implementation to completion shows the enthusiasm of the STPBI lecturers.

Co-pyrolysis of food waste with coconut fiber: thermogravimetric analyzes and hydrogen yield optimization

ABSTRACT Co-pyrolysis of food waste with coconut fiber to produce hydrogen is considered an effective strategy for clean waste disposal and high value-added product synthesis. This study investigated the co-pyrolysis mechanism and hydrogen yields of food waste and coconut fiber at different blending ratios by thermogravimetric analysis and regression optimization. A heating rate of 10 ℃/min ranging from 30 ℃ to 900 ℃ coupled with the Svante August Arrhenius kinetic equations were utilized to derive the activation energies of the samples. Thermogravimetric analysis presented positive synergistic effects between coconut fiber and food waste to accelerate weight loss rate, and the main pyrolysis peak (200 ~ 450 ℃) moved to low temperature areas as the coconut fiber proportion increased. Additionally, kinetics showed that the lowest activation energy was 29.28 kJ at 1:3 blending ratio of coconut fiber to food waste. Based on this, response surface methodology (RSM) by Design-Expert.V8.0.6 ((Box-Behnken Design) (BBD)) was applied to optimize the microwave co-pyrolysis parameters (1600 W microwave power, 5 mm feedstock size, and 74% food waste proportion), thus the predicted maximum hydrogen yield was 46.20 vol.%. This study contributes to ameliorating the potential for solid waste microwave co-pyrolysis for value-added products production, therefore providing a reference for the further development of clean disposal technology and waste resource utilization.

Anthropogenic litter on the macrotidal sandy beaches of the Amazon region.

Coastal zones, which are strategic points of considerable importance to the tourism industry, are among the environments most affected by anthropogenic debris. Thus, it is crucial to monitor and implement management programs to provide immediate solutions. Here, we aimed to evaluate anthropogenic litter along 21 macrotidal sandy beaches in the Amazon region. Indices and multivariate statistical analyses were used to identify spatial patterns of pollution, as well as sources and lifetime of the items. A total of 20,286 items were collected, with an average density of 0.19 items/m2 and a predominance of plastics. Litter was associated with tourist and recreational activities. The lifetime of most items was <1year. All beaches had intermediate levels of pollution. The analyses identified varying patterns of anthropogenic litter related to the cleaning frequency and waste item typologies. In conclusion, pollution of macrotidal beaches in the Amazon region is an emerging problem that requires measures to prevent and mitigate the impacts on this ecosystem and to reconsider the form of production and consumption of plastic waste.

Design of actuator of marine garbage cleaning vessel based on ocean wave driving

There are usually two ways to salvage and clean the garbage floating in the ocean, one is relying on manual and the other one is dependent on garbage salvage vessel driven by fuel oil. It is known that human collection is time-consuming and laborious, and machinery driven by fuel produces pollutant and pollutes the ocean environment in return. Taking these issues into consideration, this study designed a marine garbage cleaning vessel based on ocean wave driving which could gather and collect the floating garbage on the sea. The structure of the vessel actuator mainly constructed of a buoy-ratchet mechanism, the gear set-differential mechanism, the incomplete teeth-gathering mechanism, and a conveyor belt for transporting garbage. Through innovative structural design, this device could drive the whole transmission system by wave energy, which not only improves the work efficiency, increases reliability of structures but also reduces the consumption of manpower and material resources. Thus, the mechanical vessel is in line with sustainable development strategy, making full use of natural resources to clean ocean waste, and has a very high practical application value.

Genetically engineered microorganisms for environmental remediation

In the recent era, the increasing persistence of hazardous contaminants is badly affecting the globe in many ways. Due to high environmental contamination, almost every second species on earth facing the worst issue in their survival. Advances in newer remediation approaches may help enhance bioremediation's quality, while conventional procedures have failed to remove hazardous compounds from the environment. Chemical and physical waste cleanup approaches have been used in current circumstances; however, these methods are costly and harmful to the environment. Thus, there has been a rise in the use of bioremediation due to an increase in environmental contamination, which led to the development of genetically engineered microbes (GEMs). It is safer and more cost-effective to use engineered microorganisms rather than alternative methods. GEMs are created by introducing a stronger protein into bacteria through biotechnology or genetic engineering to enhance the desired trait. Biodegradation of oil spills, halobenzoates naphthalenes, toluenes, trichloroethylene, octanes, xylenes etc. has been accomplished using GEMs such bacteria, fungus, and algae. Biotechnologically induced microorganisms are more powerful than naturally occurring ones and may degrade contaminants faster because they can quickly adapt to new pollutants they encounter or co-metabolize. Genetic engineering is a worthy process that will benefit the environment and ultimately the health of our people.

Innovative biorefineries for cleaner waste textile management towards circular economy: Techno-economic analysis

The primary practices for waste textile management are landfill and incineration, generating serious environmental problems while they have a high potential for sustainable production of different green products. This study dealt with the economic analysis of bioethanol production and polyester recovery from waste textile through different scenarios. The pretreatment plays a key role in the biofuel production from waste textile and the most promising methods are pretreatment with NaOH, NaOH/urea, NaOH/thiourea, NaOH/urea/thiourea, and N-Methylmorpholine N-oxide, evaluated through scenarios 1 to 5, respectively. After pretreatment, the cotton part is enzymatically hydrolyzed and fermented through simultaneous saccharification and fermentation. Detailed simulations of the processes were carried out by Aspen Plus, and economic studies were conducted by Aspen Process Economic Analyzer for each scenario. The bioethanol production price were 0.447, 0.524, 0.624, 0.618, and 1.244 $/L for scenarios 1 to 5. The total capital investments required for scenarios 1 to 5 were 38.54, 38.60, 38.42, 38.57, and 39.35 M$, respectively. The profitability index for scenarios 1 to 5 were 2.17, 1.92, 1.61, 1.34, and 1.51. Therefore, the biorefinery based on producing bioethanol from waste textile is economically feasible. Moreover, In scenario 1, the payout period was the minimum time of 3.56 year, and the net return rate was 117.16. Sensitivity analysis also reveals that the price of waste textile has a significant impact on the profitability of the designed biorefinery. Scenario 5 is the most sensitive to variations in waste textile price; a 100% increase in the cost of waste textile increases the cost of producing bioethanol to more than 1.45 $/L, respectively.

Polydiketoenamines for a Circular Plastics Economy.

The mismanagement and leakage of plastic waste into the environment are failures of modern society. Once in the environment, plastic waste degrades into microplastics on a time scale dependent on the resin chemistry and the associated biotic or abiotic process. The high surface area of microplastics results in the contamination of ecosystems through the leaching of toxic chemicals compounded with plastics during manufacturing. In addition, the small size of microplastics increases the likelihood that they will be inhaled or ingested, which has led to the bioaccumulation of microplastics with documented harm. Furthermore, microplastics are more readily aerosolized and distributed by weather systems to areas remote from locations where plastic waste has been mismanaged. Consequently, the carbon cycle must now account for plastic waste discharge, degradation, and dispersal in the environment after the end of useful life on a global scale.Circularity in plastics recycling endeavors to solve the waste problem while promoting greater sustainability. Circularity can be conducted at different stages in the plastics life cycle. Post-industrial recycling enabling scrap recovery in manufacturing is desirable for industrial material efficiency. However, the degradation of polymer chains currently limits the extent to which scrap recovery may be practiced repeatedly on the same material, particularly when the conversion of secondary resin to various plastic products is intolerant to deviations in polymer properties. Post-consumer recycling, on the other hand, is desirable for erasing the manufacturing history and use history of plastic-containing products. Post-consumer recycling involves cleaning and sorting plastic waste into bales, followed by mechanical recycling to produce dense feedstocks for downstream chemical processes required for deconstruction, monomer refinement, and secondary resin production. The efficiency and intensity of chemical processes used to recover reusable monomers or polymers remain low for most plastics. Consequently, there is an urgent need for novel polymers with useful or advantageous properties designed for recycling by addressing the challenges of resource recovery for reuse.In this Account, I discuss the design, discovery, and development of circular plastics based on the chemistry of polydiketoenamines. The diketoenamine bond provides a vantage point for the creation of thermoplastics, elastomers, and thermosets from polytopic triketone and amine monomers. The dynamic covalent character of the diketoenamine bond can be exploited during scrap recovery to provide resilience during mechanical recycling, maintaining baseline properties of the primary resin through multiple cycles of reuse. Furthermore, the hydrolyzability of the diketoenamine bond in strong acid can be exploited for efficient monomer recovery during chemical recycling. A systems-level analysis of polydiketoenamine circularity reveals substantive benefits in low-carbon manufacturing as well as a context to quantify the market potential, identifying use cases where circularity might be most effective. Leveraging these insights, it is possible to guide the process chemistry development necessary to scale monomer and resin production to meet imminent needs for more circular plastics in the market. These insights also provide a glimpse into the underlying molecular mechanisms critical to circularity in a new plastics economy while firmly establishing a role for creativity in polymer chemistry to provide innovative solutions.

An Arduino System for Collecting the Garbage in A Segregated Manner

Abstract: Garbage collection and segregation are among the biggest problems in today's world across the globe. This work proposed a System that helps clean waste and eases people in daily life. This system, proposed by Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, is an intelligent waste segregator bin embedded with many applications. The system relies on an "Ultrasonic sensor, Calorimetric sensor, LED, Arduino, programming language and some hardware used." The invention is quite innovative and advantageous. A gist of the system mainly uses two divided sections for the segregation of bio and non-biodegradable wastes. Arduino has been used to save the coding of the system. Hence, the system helps us maintain and reduce garbage levels and can be proven a blessing in the waste management. The patent office of India has patented the proposed innovation, application number 202111006039, 12th Feb 2021, and copyright has been granted from the copyright office, India, on the design of the proposal having registration number L-104358/2021 dated 10th June 2021.

Research on the co-pyrolysis of coal slime and lignin based on the combination of TG-FTIR, artificial neural network, and principal component analysis

Confronted with the shortage of fossil energy, the large inventory and the serious pollution of industrial solid waste, the development of clean and efficient industrial solid waste disposal methods have become a trend. In this study, Thermogravimetric-Fourier transform infrared spectrometry was utilized to carry out the co-pyrolysis experiment of coal slime and lignin. Pyrolysis experiments were carried out following 7 different mass mixing ratios. The initial pyrolysis temperatures of CS, S9G1, S7G3, S5G5, S3G7, S1G9, and LIG were 414.5, 373.3, 287.6, 233.3, 225.8, 218.6, and 209.6 °C, respectively. By observing the evolution of the gaseous products of the sample pyrolysis, the results showed that the gaseous products mainly include hydrocarbons, aldehydes, ethers, and alcohols. The ratio of lignin in the mixture was changed, and the interaction between the sample particles was different. The principal component analysis method provided helps to understand the mechanism of co-pyrolysis of coal slime and lignin. The relative error of the established artificial neural network prediction was less than 2.5%. This paper comprehensively analyzed the interaction and gas evolution law during the co-pyrolysis of coal slime and lignin.